Wednesday, April 20, 2011

In May, Five Bloom at Lit Live

On Sunday, the First of May, at the Skydragon Centre at 7:30 p.m., Lit Live takes great pleasure in presenting five writers to whet your appetite for the summer reading season.

Steven Heighton brings both poetry and fiction: Patient Frame and Every Lost Country published by House of Anansi and Knopf Canada respectively.

George Bowering also has poetry and short and long fiction for our audience, offering short stories in The Box (New Star Books) and poetry in My Darling Nellie Grey (Talonbooks).

Robert Sutherland takes us on Survivor's Leave, his latest YA novel, published by Ronsdale Press.

Steven McCabe brings his poetry collection the Hierarchy of Loss, published by Ekstasis Editions.

David Clink reads from his new collection of poetry, Monster, recently unleashed by Tightrope Books.

Steven Heighton

Steven Heighton published two books in 2010: a novel, Every Lost Country, and a poetry collection, Patient Frame. Both books appeared on a number of "best of year" lists and the novel has been optioned for film. His 2005 novel, Afterlands, appeared in six countries; was a New York Times Book Review editors’ choice; a best of year choice in ten publications in Canada, the USA, and the UK; and was also optioned for film. His poems and stories have appeared in such publications as London Review of Books, Poetry, Tin House, The Walrus, and Best English Stories and have received four gold National Magazine Awards. He has also been nominated for the Governor General’s Award, the Trillium Award, and Britain’s W.H. Smith Award. This fall, ECW will publish a small collection of his memos and fragmentary essays called Workbook, and next spring Knopf Canada will bring out a new collection of his short stories. You can reach him at www.stevenheighton.com

George Bowering

George Bowering is a veteran poet and fiction writer. He has won a Governor-General's Award in poetry and another in fiction. He has won the Canadian Author's Association award in poetry, and the bpnichol Prize for chapbooks. He is an officer of the Order of Canada, and of the Order of British Columbia. He has honorary degrees from UWO and UBC. He was the first Parliamentary Poet Laureate of Canada. His most recent book of poetry is My Darling Nellie Grey (Talonbooks, 2010), his most recent book of short fiction is The Box (New Star, 2009), and his latest novel (forthcoming) is was Pinboy (Cormorant).

Robert Sutherland

Robert Sutherland is one of Canada’s most successful Young Adult novelists, having brought out many books with publishers such as Scholastic and HarperCollins. His latest, Survivor’s Leave developed from his experience during WWII when he served as an anti-aircraft gunner on a Loch Class frigate (HMCS Loch Morlich). When his ship was in dry dock in London for repairs, he experienced the German V-1 bombing. His first literary success was a novel published in the Toronto Star Weekly in 1960. When he returned to writing in the 1980s he decided to follow advice he had received on rejection slips –‘suggest you try writing for teens’. He rewrote the story that had been published in the Star. Mystery at Black Rock Island, published by Scholastic, was an immediate success and was the first of five books about two teenagers named David and Sandy. He is the author of fourteen novels, some of which have been translated into French, Norwegian, Swedish, German and Korean. Robert now lives in Westport, Ontario.

Steven McCabe

Steven McCabe is a poet, author, visual artist and filmmaker living in Toronto, Ontario. He is the author of five books of poetry: most recently Hierarchy of Loss (Ekstasis Editions 2007). He has illustrated books and magazines with fine-line ink drawings, created public murals and exhibited paintings on canvas and paper, collaborative art, and mixed media sculpture. He teaches art and creative writing workshops in both private and public schools. He recently directed and wrote his first short film titled My Story is Not My Own, a video-poem metaphorically examining the theme of grief. You can reach Steven at www.stevenmccabe.ca

David Clink

David Clink was the Artistic Director of the Art Bar Poetry Series for three years, and Artistic Director of the Rowers Pub Reading Series its first three seasons. He is a widely published poet. He edited the anthology, A Verdant Green (Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, 2010). His first book of poetry was Eating Fruit Out of Season (Tightrope Books, 2008). His second book, Monster (Tightrope), a collection of strange, dark, surreal and unusual poems, was launched in November 2010.